Cahal Pech Village Resort — Hotel in San Ignacio & Santa Elena

Dear Rhondine,

My name is Justin Turton. My wife and I checked in on Friday, June 7th, for a three-day stay, and I wanted to share our experience, beginning with the positives.

On Sunday at 8 AM, we went on an excursion that we had booked upon our arrival. Our tour guide, Eddie, and driver, Evean, provided a wonderful and memorable experience. They were professional, friendly, and went above and beyond their duties. Please recognize their excellent work.

However, we encountered several issues with our room. It was excessively hot and difficult to make comfortable. There were black ants everywhere, and we had to catch two different types of lizards in the room. Additionally, the pillows were inadequate; I usually sleep with two full-sized pillows, but we were provided with three flat ones. When I requested an extra pillow, I was told none were available. This was surprising, as we have traveled extensively and never encountered a hotel unwilling to ensure their guests' comfort. There was no refrigerator in the room to keep our water cool and no microwave to heat our food. The television was WiFi-controlled, but the WiFi did not work effectively, making it hard to watch a program without constant interference.

On the second day, my wife wanted to explore the area further. When we inquired about available rooms, we were quoted $235 Belize. Given the standard and comfort level of the rooms, this price seemed unreasonable. We checked out on Monday, June 10th, and moved to another hotel for the remainder of our stay in Belize. I have attached some pictures for your reference. I suggest having someone inspect the rooms for cleanliness and comfort before guests check in. Despite having the air conditioning on, our room temperature remained at 75°F all day, which was still uncomfortable.

I look forward to your response before I share this experience on social media. Thank you for your prompt attention to these matters.

Best regards, Justin Turton Good day Mr. Turton

Greetings from Cahal Pech Village Resort. Thank you for your email and for bringing your dissatisfaction with your hotel stay to our attention. Please accept our apologies for the frustration and inconvenience you experienced in your cabana. The experience you had with the ants in your room is not the usual we have been experiencing extremely hot weather for a couple of weeks then it rained just prior to your arrival this brought out the ants in the cabana. Seeing a lizard or two in the cabana is part of the jungle setting. Also due to the extreme temperatures the air conditioning was not cooling your cabana. The cabana you booked was a standard cabana and those are not equipped with the amenities of microwave and refrigerator. However, the front desk did offer to move you to a different room but you declined the offer. We do take your feedback seriously though and our housekeeping team have been informed, and immediate steps will be taken to ensure that the rooms are fumigated for the ants and thorough cleaning procedures are followed. We would like to offer you a one-night complimentary stay in a standard room on your next visit. Your satisfaction is of utmost importance to us, and we hope to regain your trust on a future visit. Sincerely, Thank you for your detailed explanation regarding the issues we've encountered. We were never offered a room change; in fact, when we tried to extend our stay, we were informed it would cost $235 per night. As you can see from the pictures I sent, the television Wi-Fi system is also inconsistent. I appreciate your prompt response. Justin Turton. No further response...

"PLACE OF TICKS!!" - The meaning of the name should be enough to warn you: Cahal Pech means "Place of Ticks" - look it up. Seriously. I didn't know this until our driver told us on our way from the airport. I asked him if the place was nice and he begrudgingly said it is "has a nice view". That should have been our first red flag. When we arrived, it quickly became apparent that this place was not very nice. It looks like a run down dump site on the outside. I jokingly called it a Motel 6 to my kids when we arrived, but WOW! what I would have given to be in a Motel 6 compared to this sh*thole! This place is rated as a 3 star hotel and has 4.2 stars on Google reviews. Since we were only staying a few nights and had all-day excursions, i figured we didn't need 4 or 5 star accommodations. While I understand hotel star ratings are objectively based on amenities (restaurant, pool, etc...) I am not sure how anyone who has actually stayed here would review this place high enough to get it above 2 stars?? In our first room, the beds were worse than sleeping on the floor - the mattresses were a few inches thick and had springs in them. I laid on one and did my best to position my body between springs as they poked me all over. There was a sheet on each of the 3 beds and only 1 blanket in the entire 2 bdrm suite. There are no closets, the single bathroom is tiny, the internet is terrible, and the restaurant was out of many foods. There is a pool and what appears to be a hot tub in the pictures online; however, the "hot" tub is just a tub as it is not connected to any heater or jets. Kind of gross if you think about it. They don't even have shampoo, conditioner, or soap in the rooms or at the front desk and have a small shop near the lobby that DOESN'T offer them! There were bugs in the rooms as well. I didn't even want to sit on the furniture, it was so filthy. We used a travel agent to book this place and I let them know we were disappointed the first night. The travel agent immediately called the "hotel" and we were asked if we would like to change rooms. We decided to take them up on their offer and the room was better with better beds. They also brought us hotel size bottles of shampoo and conditioner (the stuff the staff at the front desk said they didn't have). Speaking of front desk, they were simply not courteous at all during our one night of hell. From check-in through check-out, they seemed like they were all "checked out" themselves. I appreciate the management at least trying to accommodate; however, this place is beyond recovery. The shower dripped water, then came out strong, and over and over. hot, cold, hot, cold. Keep in mind there are no phones in the room so each time there is a problem, you must walk to the front desk and then HOPE they respond so you don't have to go down to the front desk again for an update. I can live without internet...and for the most part could have lived without the phone; however, in a situation where it was just one bad thing after another, the lack of a direct communication to the front desk became a real nuisance. We checked out in the morning and moved to Ka'ana resort and spa just a few minutes away. LOVED Ka'ana! Do NOT stay at Cahal Pech. You have...

Beware Basilio from Cahal Pech Resort and Tours

ATM is a magnificent cave journey through water, a lot of water- make sure you get a life jacket, you’ll enjoy it more I’m told- Basilio didn’t offer us life jackets.

We were Basilio’s afternoon on Christmas Day 2018. He was late returning from his morning. We all were cool with waiting while he ate. We headed out at 2:00 PM. The sun sets around 4:30 PM this time of year. (Just like Gilligan on the Minnow, it’s a 🎼three hour tour, a three hour tour.) We swam across the first river. There is a rope, but it quickly submerges as fellow travellers take hold. I couldn’t manage swimming with my 1 litre water bottle. I tried pushing it ahead of me, but the current caused it to drift off course. A tall man in the group was walking in the river - he’s very tall, I’m very small- he helped me return to the rope and we all got across. (This, I am told is quite fun with life jackets- not so much fun while swimming with a water bottle.) I thought, since there were 2 more river crossings still to come, I should leave my water bottle here and pick it up on the way out. Basilio said that wasn’t possible however offered to carry it for me. Everyone started out, I slipped in the mucky slime that served as a path. While I regrouped the fellow spelunkers were now very far ahead of my daughter and myself. Basilio, Calls back: You need to keep up with the group! Me: that’s a great idea, and perhaps you can adjust your speed as well. Basilio: if we go the speed of the slowest person it’ll be dark and the park will close before we’re done!! Me: we’re late already. It’s already going to be dark. We started late and that’s not my responsibility.

All continue walking and Basilio drops back to have a word with me. Basilio: I want you to be having fun. Me: I don’t want to discuss this right now. Basilio: I want you to have fun. Why didn’t you do the cave tubing? ! You just float down the river. You see the same caves. It’s easy. Why didn’t you do that?! Me: I don’t think that’s helpful right now. Look, my daughter wrote to the tour booking people and told them I’d be slow! They wrote back that would not be a problem! Basilio: I explained out difficult this would be in the parking lot! My daughter: no you didn’t! Me: I must have missed the part where you said you wouldn’t wait for me.

Basilio walked ahead and adjusted pace for me and continued to make accommodations, as he should have, for various reasons for others in the group.

We missed out on the “open up in to the beauty of light” at the end, as we were aforementioned already traipsing the return trail in darkness Essential in this ‘adventure’ is trust. I think you can judge for yourself from the exchanges we did not establish that with our guide or the group. This is a dangerous adventure. Before you enter the cave, look at your fellow journeyers. Be sure these are the people you want to be trusting if things go south - and they could here. For sure, be very careful in your interactions with Basilio. If you really want to do it: a) get a life jacket...